culture
-
Why Black Women Can Never Be Drama-Free on Reality TV
Writing for Clutch magazine, Danielle C. Belton argues that the new Bravo reality series Married to Medicine is the same old Atlanta reality series with a different name. The only thing different about “Married to Medicine” is that the women seem painfully aware of how black women are portrayed on reality shows, yet they all…
-
Rick Ross Raps About Raping Woman
On Rick Ross’ latest song, titled “U.O.E.N.O.,” he raps, “Put molly all in her champagne/She ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/She ain’t even know it.” Yep. No metaphors, no guesswork and no subtlety here. Ross recorded bars about drugging a woman and then raping her. And he’s getting his fair…
-
$338M Powerball Winner to 'Help a Lot of People'
What would you do with $338 million? Powerball winner Pedro Quezada of Passaic, N.J., who won the fourth-biggest prize in the lottery’s history, said “I’m going to help a lot of people, whatever they need,” according to the Daily News. According to a New York Post account, Quezada’s windfall will help a lot closer to home,…
-
Is There Only 1 Black Riverkeeper?
Fred Tutman, Maryland’s Patuxent River protector, is one of 200 black riverkeepers in the world — a stat that speaks volumes about diversity within mainstream environmentalist groups. Minorities who belong to large environmental organizations said in interviews that they feel these groups have much in common with the GOP when it comes to diversity problems, despite…
-
Remember This? Malcolm, Dru, Neil and Olivia on 'The Young and the Restless'
(The Root) — There’s been quite a bit of implausible drama over the four decades since The Young and the Restless came on the air, but to celebrate its birthday, we thought we’d dust off a clip featuring our favorite love square (?) on the soap opera: the iconic sisters, Olivia and Drucilla (Tonya Lee Williams…
-
Time to Stand Up for Adria Richards
(The Root) — I want Adria Richards to know that I support her. I want to use whatever platform I have — big or small — to shout down the disgusting sexist vitriol that exploded all over the Internet after Richards, a veteran of Silicon Valley, dared to use her own platform to do the…
-
Another Affirmative Action Case for the Supreme Court?
The U.S. Supreme Court is already considering the highly charged Fisher v. University of Texas case, a challenge to the school’s use of race as a consideration in its admissions process, and now it’s taking on another affirmative action case: Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, the New York Times reports. The case concerns…
-
When Blacks Were Part of America, but Not
(The Root) — This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. By the mid-19th century, the fine arts were playing an important role in shaping the self-image of America. A…
-
Race and 'The Real World'
(The Root) — This weekend, thanks to MTV’s marathons of retro seasons of The Real World, I accidentally time-warped back to 1992. Remember that year? George H.W. Bush lost the presidency to Bill Clinton, “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston set musical records and the City of Angels burned with the riots over…
-
Black Women Won't Be Erased Here
(The Root) — When I was in my first semester of journalism school, a well-meaning professor pulled me aside to offer some constructive criticism. He was one of my favorites, a great teacher and an accomplished editor at an award-winning newspaper. He’d noticed a theme in the stories I’d pitched or written for his class…